COVID-19 Severity Linked to Gut Bacteria in First-of-its-Kind Study
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:
COVID-19 severity linked to gut bacteria in first-of-its-kind study:
A first-of-its-kind study has investigated the relationship between COVID-19 severity and the gut microbiome. The observational research suggests specific microbial patterns correlate with disease severity and those bacterial imbalances may account for some cases of "long COVID".
A growing body of study is finding a relationship between our immune system and the massive population of bacteria living in our intestines, known as our gut microbiome. These links suggest our microbiome may influence, or be influenced by, inflammatory activity in the body. And this relationship could play a role in everything from depression and obesity to Alzheimer's.
[...] One study found COVID-19 patients presented with unique microbial compositions compared to patients with influenza and healthy controls. Another small pilot study, investigating a cohort of just 15, suggested there may be signs microbiome alterations correlate with COVID-19 severity.
This new study, published in the BMJ journal Gut, offers the most detailed investigation to date into the relationship between COVID-19 severity, the gut microbiome, and general inflammatory biomarkers. The research looked at blood and stool samples from 100 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital, compared to 78 healthy control subjects.
Journal Reference:
Yun Kit Yeoh, Tao Zuo, Grace Chung-Yan Lui, et al. Gut microbiota composition reflects disease severity and dysfunctional immune responses in patients with COVID-19 [open], Gut (DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323020)
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